We Don’t get Much Better, Do We? – Why We Don’t Get Better at Much of What We Do

“Seldom do we completely overcome even a single fault, nor do we aim at daily improvement.”
Thomas à Kempis, 15th Century (the most convicting and true quote I know)

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(This is kind of a post about how we learn – or, fail to learn)…

Here’s a bothersome observation – in much of our work life, we don’t remember what we “learned,” and we don’t get much better at what we do.

That is the basic premise behind Jeffery Pfeffer’s new book, Leaderhip BS (my selection for the November 6 First Friday Book Synopsis). He is writing about leadership initiatives that don’t do much toward producing better leaders. But it is also my observation about a lot of other tasks and skills and arenas.

Take me, for instance. I have read many books on time and energy management. But, there are (many) times when if I simply fully followed what I knew to do, I would be in better shape on my tasks and deadlines. And, by the way, I would be in better shape, period!

And, I have been through three rounds of “One-to-One” at Apple. This pays for one-on-one tutoring and help sessions. “I go, I learn, I forget.”

I’m very good at forgetting…

I teach Speech at the Community College Level, and I have led many Presentation Skills training sessions. These are simply Speech Classes, with better feedback, tightly packed into two-day sessions. Here’s something interesting – many of the participants who – how do I day this nicely?; need help with their presentation skills – took Speech in college. It’s on their transcript. They sat in classes, prepared their speeches, and got a grade.

And then, they went to work, had a family, coached their children’s soccer terams, and “forgot” everything they learned in speech class.

Just like we all do.

One reason this happens is this: we don’t do it enough. If your job demanded two presentations every week, you would probably get a lot better at speaking. (No guarantee even then, but your chances of getting better would go up).

But, this is an all-of-life-and-work-life issue. Most of us could get better at most of what we do, if we followed some simple steps:

Step #1 — Pay attention to what we do (to how we do it, while we do it)Step #2 — Do immediate debriefs (a true “after action review” each time we do any task at work)Step #3 — Work on improving one aspect at a timeStep #4 — Repeat

In terms of getting better at speech, it is really pretty simple – not easy, just simple.

#1 — Speak more often — a lot more often. #2 — Video record your speeches/presentations #3 — Review each recording, with an honest “what do I quit doing, what do I start doing” plan. #4 — Repeat; repeat; repeat

We don’t get better because we don’t work at getting better. We just do, without much thinking at all. We don’t do, and then make changes for the better, and then do better the next time, and the next…

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